Are you hunting for a pre-release Pocket PC?

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my brother is an avid outdoorsman and loves the thrill of the hunt. today i became a hunter in the land of geekdom, as i tenanciously sought out that truly rare prize, the pre-release ipaq pocket pc. there have been so many rumors of people picking up 2210/2215 devices at frys and best buy stores that i called every best buy, office depot, circuit city, and compusa store in western washington. however, as often happens when you go hunting, the trail was cold. i vowed to try again, and even have my name and cell number at a couple of stores so my scouts can contact me at the first sighting of the elusive species. to even further whet my appetite, the pda buyer's guide has posted the first full-blown review of the new ipaq. like with hunters showing others their prize 5-point deer, my taste for prey has grown even greater. speed, expandability, brightness, stable performance, and the sleek design have captured my imagination and made the target greater than it probably is in reality. are any other geeks joining in the hunt, and has anyone been successful yet?

they all have the same buttons, in the same places, with the same size/layout of screen…

my, that's scary.

i might get one of these when they come out, tho… just to see what it's like.

err… well, make that i *would* get one of these if they weren't so expensive… – by :-)

re: :-)(10:27am est fri jun 20 2003)hmm…so you basically want every one of the packet pc's to be different? how inconvenient would that be now? try to apply that to real life for a second. for example your job location changing every day, so when you go there the next day it's not there anymore, but then your hope would change location as well when you finish work, oh and your car would drive backwards, and would change colour and style, so would the location of the bathroom when you really have to go, and oh yeah the elevator would be gone so you have to climb a few stories, but then when you are done your office is not there anymore, you ordered lasagna, but by the time you are sitting down you have chow mein in your plate…i mean c'mon….how much more pointless can you be? – by wd

correction(10:28am est fri jun 20 2003)” but then your hope would change location as well when you finish work,”

that is supposed to be: ” but then your home would change location as well when you finish work,” – by wd

wd(10:56am est fri jun 20 2003)you are correct. too much diversity can lead to chaos, and chaos isn't a good thing when you are trying to get serious work done.

however…

i don't know about you, but i don't change my pda every day. i would imagine that most people wouldn't change their pda more than once a year (unless they were zealots, and changed it every 3 months).

to pick up the car analogy. when the model t ford came out, you could get “any color, as long as it's black.”

there was no diversity in the market place.

these days, you can get all different colors, you can get manual or automatic transmission, 2 or 4 doors, a wide variety of styles, seats, etc. etc. etc.note that i tried to aviod “under the hood” changes because ppcs have continued to upgrade the “behind the scenes” stuff.

to me it's like the dmv saying that all cars must have 4 doors, must be painted green, and must be manual transmission.

there seems to be very little wiggle room in the ppc world for innovation. they get faster, they get more memory, they get wifi and bt built in (note that the 2215 does *not* have built in n get – by ()/wifi), some evei*

wd(11:08am est fri jun 20 2003)you are correct. too much diversity can lead to chaos, and chaos isn't a good thing when you are trying to get serious work done.

however…

i don't know about you, but i don't change my pda every day. i would imagine that most people wouldn't change their pda more than once a year (unless they were zealots, and changed it every 3 months).

to pick up the car analogy. when the model t ford came out, you could get “any color, as long as it's black.”

there was no diversity in the market place.

these days, you can get all different colors, you can get manual or automatic transmission, 2 or 4 doors, a wide variety of styles, seats, etc. etc. etc.note that i tried to aviod “under the hood” changes because ppcs have continued to upgrade the “behind the scenes” stuff.

to me it's like the dmv saying that all cars must have 4 doors, must be painted green, and must be manual transmission.

there seems to be very little wiggle room in the ppc world for innovation. they get faster, they get more memory, they get wifi and bt built in (note that the 2215 does *not* have wifi), some even get sdio – but none so far have got a thumbboard (except the just-announced ipaq), none have increased screen resolution, afaik none have a built in camera, gps, or upc reader.

an ipaq has a biometric finger scanner. i think a few ppcs have jog-dials and the like… but that seems to be the extent of the innovation.

it is diversity that makes computers great. the reason 'pc's are dominating the marketplace is not because they are better than macs, but rather because there is so much diversity in design, manufacturers, and so forth.

i like to get a pda that suits my personality. (ugh, that actually sounded like a imac commercial *shudder*) i don't want to get something that requires me to change to fit it.

i sold my 3800 a month ago and have been waiting for the new ipaqs. the 2215 seems a perfect fit for me. i like the small size and lightweight, and it has more features than the 1910. i think i will join you on the hunt! – by jasonmiller

i worked with an ipaq 1910 for a job recently and the hp hardware that surrounds the pocket pc was really nice. but the pocket pc os just seems so stale to me.

the nx70 is not multitasking (except audioplayer) and it's too big really for carrying in your pocket but all the nifty apps and cool screen make it superior.

i will say though that no one has come out with a decent gsm phone yet except the t-mobile pocket pc phone (o2 xda or something). i may just finally give up on the thought of a cool palm gsm phone and get that tmobile one…

i got a 2215 on friday(11:18pm est sun jun 22 2003)i called frys in sunnyville calif., and they sent one out to me overnight. it is awsome, but wmp9 does not play mpeg. also some of my games wont work. – by inomad

palm gsm(4:49am est mon jun 23 2003)well, the problem with pocket pc is that the things you buy 'm for don't work that well:– pim: isn't up to palm-standards.– speed: despite all those mhz they really don't fly.– instable os: when you start installing applications not delivered with your pocket pc thingy, you end up using the reset button more than any other button on the device. terrible.– fragile: they feel plastic, they are plastic.

hey ¨where's my palm gsm¨ … you write:'i will say though that no one has come out with a decent gsm phone yet except the t-mobile pocket pc phone (o2 xda or something). i may just finally give up on the thought of a cool palm gsm phone and get that tmobile one… '

i have tried both the xda as the treo270. the xda is huge and consumes a lot of power. you can 't use it for one single day if you do call more than once a day. don't go for that xda, because you will regret it.the treo270 (handspring) rocks. i have used it for 10 months. then it developed some kind of malfunction, which forced me to send it in for repairs. then i promised my wife to give her the replacement if handspring would replace it with a brand new one. i must have been drunk when i made that promise. handspring service replaced the phone within 3 days and they sent me a brand new one. really good cus services @ handspring. now my wife uses it. super phone. i can't wait till the treo 600 hits the street.

to survive time in between i purchased an ipaq 5-series (hence the experience mentioned at the top)…. and within 2 weeks i was back with palmos again: tungsten t.